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Note: Also available over at Mad Alchemist. Thanks for the feedback on a couple of previous posts/questions here that helped lead me to the conclusions presented here. Creating the perfect water profile and mash for a sweet stout is an exercise in contradiction. You want the beer to be very...

Something I've always wondered that would help me with mashes for very dark beers: Is it okay for me to add nothing but Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) to the mash to raise the mash pH in a very dark beer? Does the mash actually need Calcium, or can I add my Calcium Sulfate, Calcium Chloride...

I found some nice voile fabric for my second BIAB brew, but I've run into a small issue: I can't figure out the best way to clean my bag. The best I could figure was to let it dry completely so the grain would come out, but it's not all out of there. Should I try to boil it so it doesn't matter...

I'm posting the entirety of a blog post I just wrote here, but if you want to see it at its original location, you can find it here: http://www.madalchemist.com/archives/brew-...electric-fryer/ I got all of my equipment for my indoor brew-in-a-bag experiment this week. My plan was to wait...

I have two versions of this recipe. One is almost a Dry Stout turned toward Sweet Stout, and the other is pure Sweet Stout. This is the recipe for my Hazelmocha Cream Stout (Dry). It's a dark, sweet, full-bodied, and deceptively dry sweet stout with chocolate, coffee, and hazelnut flavors due in...

Anyone have experience insulating a mash tun or brew kettle? I picked up some Reflectix and plan on wrapping up my (indoor electric) brew kettle with it, along with a few spacers so it's not actually touching the bulk of the heat. Hoping it'll work, but wanted to see if anyone has experience...

I've never used Belgian Caramel Pils. According to a handy grain chart at BYO: That sounds a lot like Dextrin Malt to me, and I'm interested in using it if it's similar. The two malts I'm wondering about in the comparison are: Belgian Caramel Pils Briess Carapils Anyone have experience with...

Thought I'd post this here since you Aussies tend to have creative and different ways of doing things. Are there any good indoor full-volume boil options? Preferably, one that could boil 6 gallons so if it's especially hot or cold outside, I can avoid propane (not just because I'm afraid of...

Since I have two beers aging right now, I thought I'd take this weekend to do an experiment. The experiment was to determine the viability of using roasted dandelion roots as either a bittering agent (in place of hops) or aromatic in my beer. Using dandelions in beer is rare, but not...

I posted a poll up on my site to see who still racks to secondary. The current results, after 33 votes, are as follows: What does "secondary" mean? 3% (1 votes) Yes, I still rack to a secondary fermentor. 18% (6 votes) Only when I'm doing something special. 36% (12 votes) No, that's an...

So, I've been formulating a BIAB plan. My plan goes something like this: Get a big polyester or nylon bag with a drawstring (like a laundry or sports bag). Get one or two somewhat fine (and large) mesh bags from a homebrew shop--enough to hold 15+ lbs of grain. Brew with the smaller bag(s)...